Hello and Happy New Year to you all, I hope yours was less sickly than mine?  Why is it that everyone gets so poorly (including me) over the festive period?!

Anyway...

Lots has been happening or rather not happening rather for Pickle & Squidge and I have have had to 'tweak' my boxes and remove the Aptamil first milk.  I was sad to do this, as it was part of my initial plan, to offer a box of essential things for all new mums/parents that they might need during the first few months and to make sure that I didn't discriminate against anyones choices or add to the pressure of being a new mum.

Once I'd launched Pickle & Squidge and it had gone live, I contacted Aptaclub UK on Facebook to see if they might feature my new business if they liked it.  I didn't hear anything for a while and then received a message, explaining that they loved my boxes and thought they were a great idea.  However they exclusively support breastfeeding for the first 6 months (obviously they have to say this and why they only advertise follow on formula) and suggested that I contact my local Trading Standards to discuss this further.

My heart sank, but after a while, I realised that they had actually done me a huge favour.  After speaking in depth with a fantastic women at Trading Standards, I now know that there are legal regulations on infant formula, which prohibit any advertisement or promotion of infant formula to pregnant women or new mums in the first 6 months - hence why infant formula is only advertised from 6 months plus - light bulb moment!

Now that I know this, it totally makes sense why I'd never seen it advertised and also why it is never reduced or included in offers online or in stores.  For my business it is important to me to be able to run offers and discounts once Pickle & Squidge is a little more established and because of these legal regulations, I wouldn't be able to do this.

So, I made the executive decision to remove Aptamil from all my boxes, replacing it with Nelson Arnicare Arnica 30c Pillules, which nearly made the cut initially, but I felt offering a back up/emergency mini bottle of formula might be more useful in those early months with your baby.  However, as soon as I made the decision to change the products, it was a total no brainer and top of my list to include it in our mummy-to-be boxes.

Arnica is amazing and we use the cream version weekly in this household, my littles and I are extremely clumsy (it seems I cannot go a day without walking into a door handle or edge of a table ) and it helps heal our bruising much quicker.  Which is why I chose Arnica as it can offers numerous benefits, during and after labour. It is a homeopathic remedy that can be used for a natural birth or C-section.  Arnica can help you recover from surgery and the less post-birth bruising and after pain you experience, the more care and energy you can devote to your new baby. 

I'm not one to dwell on things if they haven't worked out how I envisioned, there's no point, because if I had continued to trade including the infant formula, Pickle & Squidge may not be in such a strong position as it is now.  This blog post may have been my last and I was not prepared to be defeated.  I was in no doubt that when I launched P&S, it would be a work in progress, there would be things I would need to change and tweak and sometimes you've just got to put a bit more effort in to make the right decisions work for you.

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